Golfers shattering own marks

After Cody Sims broke the school record with a 91 on April 26 in Osawatomie, Luke Brown scored an 83 at the Atchison Invitational on April 29. Sims had a new personal best with an 87 and the Chieftains, who couldn't break the 400 barrier as a team last season, have shot below the mark for the second consecutive meet.

Tonganoxie had its best invitational in Atchison, tallying a 364 and finishing seventh out of 12 teams. THS also scored the closest to an invitational winner in its short team history. Atchison won the tournament with a 317.

"That's pretty good for us at this stage," Tonganoxie coach Darren Neas said. "We have improved on every tournament and every course. I'm just very happy with how they played."

Also contributing to the team score were Mat Overbaugh with a 95 and Adam Reetz with a 99. Tyler Davidson and Cody Owsley also participated in the meet, but only the top four scores are figured into team scores.

The Chieftains are starting to see drastic improvement from last season's inaugural campaign. Last season at the same meet, not one Tonganoxie golfer cracked the 100 mark. The team finished with a 411 last year.

"I don't think that course is a whole lot easier than any course we've played," Neas said. "It has just as much trouble."

The Chieftains have two meets remaining before regionals -- Thursday near Lake Perry and Monday at the Kaw Valley League meet at Eagle Bend in Lawrence.

On May 19, the team hits the road for Ottawa and a Class 4A regional. Other teams in the regional are

Baldwin, Burlington, Santa Fe Trail, Council Grove, Anderson County, Ottawa, Perry-Lecompton and state powerhouse Topeka-Hayden. The Wildcats took third at last year's state tournament.

If any Chieftain golfers advance out of Ottawa, they will visit the Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City on May 27 for the state tournament.